Using distributed topology update and preplanned configurations to achieve trunk network survivability

Abstract

The authors present a new approach for trunk network survivability. This modular approach is intended for a telephone trunk network consisting of high-bandwidth fiber-optic links connected through reconfigurable digital cross-connect nodes. It works for both node and link failures. This approach comprises a distributed protocol with two parts. First, the surviving digital cross-connect nodes are caused to converge to an agreement on the topology (i.e., what is up and what is down). Second, based on the agreed topology and on a precomputed plan for that topology, the digital cross-connect nodes are reconfigured to restore as much call-carrying capacity as possible. The modularity of this approach comes from separating the problem of devising a distributed fault-tolerant protocol to determine what the failure is from the problem of designing a network reconfiguration for that failure. >